Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 November 2020
63. Deputy David Stanton asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine The investment his Department is making in research through Moorepark, County Cork; the benefits this will have for farmers and agri-food businesses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33535/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraMoorepark Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Centre has played a pivotal role in the development of the Irish dairy industry since its establishment by Government in 1959. Under the expert tutelage of Teagasc, it has evolved to become the focal point of research on milk production in Ireland contributing to increased profitability on dairy farms, creating new jobs within the dairy industry and contributing to increased agri-food exports. Moorepark is globally renowned for its research and development of sustainable grassbased systems of milk production, and associated dairy processing research. As well as research, Moorepark also plays a very important role in education and extension. In education, it has developed 2 very innovative courses with UCD comprising a Dairy Business degree and a Diploma in Dairy Farm Management, where students spend a significant amount of time in Moorepark.
On site Moorepark employs some 400 people including graduate students. On average Teagasc spend over €20m annually on research at the Moorepark Campus. My Department is a significant funder contributing funding through yearly Grant in Aid allocations to Teagasc and through the Research Stimulus and FIRM funding programmes, which are both very important to Teagasc, Moorepark. There are currently 52 Active projects across all the programmes that involve Moorepark and a total award amount exceeds €15m.
In terms of Grant in Aid, my Department has provided Teagasc with an increased allocation next year of some €7m bringing the overall allocation for the year to almost €147m. It includes a €42m allocation to support current expenditure across the education, advisory and research directorates. Prioritisation of funding for particular services/programmes is an operational matter for Teagasc to determine.
Turning to Moorepark, Food Wise 2025 called for increased investment in Research, Development and Innovation, noting that low levels by the agri-food sector were inhibiting the transition towards higher value production and exports. Part of the response included a recommendation that Teagasc develop a “Food Innovation Hub” at its Moorepark campus to promote greater collaboration between industry and public research and deliver a step change in innovation activity in the food industry. My Department agreed to provide almost €9m for the project from its capital allocation on a phased basis. Just over €5m has been paid to date to meet the costs of the project with an additional €2.5m allocated for the remainder of this year. On completion in early 2021, the 'Hub' will consist of 12 custom designed Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) units, equipped with dedicated offices, laboratories and temperature controlled storage space.
It will create an environment where new concepts can be generated, new products manufactured, and test marketed for commercial potential. Greater industry investment in Research, Development and Innovation will be encouraged to develop new products and exploit growing market segments internationally particularly in the dairy sector. It will support innovation in the food industry thus enabling companies to become more competitive while also generating market focused research initiatives. SMEs will be provided with opportunities to engage in research activities in an affordable way, allowing smaller companies to scale up and engage in an expanded range of Research, Development and Innovation with renowned Teagasc food researchers.
In addition to the Food Hub, Teagasc has also carried out a €10m upgrade of the Moorepark Technology Ltd pilot plant facility at the Moorepark campus. This meant refurbishment of existing infrastructure and building new processing capability. The newly upgraded facility offers a variety of services ranging from pilot plant rental and technical assistance through contract R&D and pre-commercial manufacture. It allows dairy companies to fine tune new processes and products at a pilot scale before embarking on full-scale industrial production. This capacity to “pilot” scientific advances at pre-production scale is essential if investment in research is to result in commercial return.
